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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Is the Dream Act 2010 legitimate immigration reform, or does it constitute amnesty for illegals? That's the question about the measure, which was introduced first as part of the Defense Spending bill. The Dream Act is on the agenda for the Lame Duck session, and is strongly supported by Harry Reid, the Senate Majority leader.

Of course, the unemployment extension is also something that is needed at this time, as 2.5 million Americans will experience a lapse in their emergency federal unemployment benefits if it expires.

However, the DREAM Act is important to the Democrats, who want to push this immigration reform bill through the House before they lose their majority. Supporters claim that it is amnesty-driven. That is, that the DREAM Act fixes a brutal social injustice.

Others who are against the measure claim that it is Amnesty for illegals, and provides a loophole for people to illegally come to the US.

The DREAM Act would give a six year conditional path towards citizenship to any illegal immigrant brought to the US by their parents before the age of 16. The requirements of the citizenship track would include upholding the law, and getting a college degree or serving 2 years in the military.

So what is it? Is the Dream Act 2010 immigration reform - or amnesty for illegals?

26 comments:

Thanks for such an insightful view NOT! What is immigration reform without "amnesty," without rights and options to residency and citizenship? Prison-building, policing and criminalization of immigration status to keep police busy and to fill the prisons. The DREAM Act is both and not enough. Even before we get reforms, we need to restore and extend constitutional rights and protections to ALL, decriminalize status and stop the hateful programs and strategies that give our country a bad and racist name.

Ignorance is Bliss: Those who have NO CLUE or QUALIFICATIONS about Immigration are those who show their IGNORANCE There is NO SUCH WORD AS ‘ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT” in Blacks Law Dictionary, or In Merriam Websters Dictionary. Get Educated .“Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday that the claim by some conservative activists that illegal immigration is to blame for all of the state’s fiscal problems is ignorant and bigoted.” In the 20-plus years I have spent studying, lecturing and litigating immigration issues, two things have always amazed me. The first is the amount and intensity of hate spewed against undocumented workers. The second is the amount of misinformation that is published about them.On this second point, the quote from Mark Twain is illustrative. “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” I suppose this may be true in part because misinformation, like a lie, requires no accuracy, validation or research; all of which are time-consuming practices.The recent letters alleging that all undocumented workers are “criminals,” and specifically Veronica Suarez, whose plight was written about in the Tracy Press recently, is a criminal are factually incorrect.According to the facts (as stated in Sharon Franceschi’s Sept. 7 commentary) Saurez entered the U.S. on a valid visa, overstayed her visa when it expired, resulting in her unlawful immigration status. None of these acts, as stated by Franceschi, constitute a crime under federal or state law. Overstaying a valid visa under the Immigration and Naturalization Act is a civil violation of the law, not a criminal violation. Being in the U.S. in under undocumented status is not a criminal violation, but a civil violation of the INA.The facts, as stated by Franceschi, do not indicate that Suarez has committed any crime. To call her a criminal is erroneous at best, and libelous at worst.

Furthermore, it is an Americanism that a person is innocent until proven guilty. So until Suarez (or any other undocumented person) is charged and found guilty of a crime, it would be inappropriate to call them “criminals.”It is important to note that there is a very large difference between civil and criminal violations of law. The distinction is so important that the law makes the erroneous allegation that one has committed a crime of slander or libel, (which means liability is automatic even without proof of damages). One who violates the civil law is no more a criminal than someone who has breached a contract or accidentally damaged another’s property.It is true that entering the United States without inspection is a misdemeanor under the INA. The misdemeanor is completed once an individual’s entry is complete. Suarez, according to Franceschi, did not enter without inspection; she entered with a valid visa. According to U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services statistics, about 40 percent of undocumented persons enter legally and overstay their visas (which, as stated above, is not a crime). Consequently, at least 40 percent of the undocumented population has committed no crime in regards to their immigration status.Therefore, one cannot assume that a person has committed a crime simply because they are undocumented.Franceschi is also in error in her allegation that getting married and having children while being undocumented in the U.S. is a violation of the law. It is not. Franceschi goes on to say that Suarez “apparently bought a house illegally.” It is unlikely that Franceschi knows exactly how Suarez purchased her home. Consequently, any allegation of illegality is, at a minimum, irresponsible.It is also important to note that the Immigration and Citizenship Services doesn’t consider all undocumented persons criminals. When the Immigration and Citizenship Services publishes information about its enforcement activities involving undocumented workers, it are always sure to make a distinction between “criminal” and noncriminal aliens.

Law Breaker is a criminal. Therefore, you cross the border illegally, you are violating the laws of our nation, thus, criminal.

If you overstay your visa - criminal, etc..

I liken immigration lawyers like that of ambulance chasers... you prey on those that think you will do something for them while processing the same papers they could do themselves... if... they could speak our language, which, is paramount to success in our nation.

I am of an immigrant family. My wife is an immigrant. In my family, more than 6 are immigrants over the past 25 years. What ticks us all off is the fact that the FEDGOV will grant amnesty to illegal aliens while the WORLD waits in line... 99% being mexican or some hispanic from the south who illegally crossed into the USA.

No one is against LEGAL IMMIGRATION, but we are certainly against illegal immigration.

Now go chase down some more illegals and offer them some hope while you raid their life savings.

(and I have 2 lawyers in the family who practice real law in a courtroom as DA's).

Immigration reform is coming whether you like it or not, so get ready to like it. We cannot be illegal in our turf, so therefore non of us are illegals, we all know who the real invaders are, and we don{t have a problem with it, but if you want it all for your kind, well you are gonna have to succumb to immigration reform which is nothing but a slight ironing of decades of unjust treatment.

So if you don{t like whats coming, go to france or canada, fake Americans.

I have spoken the truth once again, if it hurts its cuz its real, and if it doesnt, its cuz you are a real American.

Juanita, your words could not have been more accurate and well said ...

As for "Anonymous" with the pathetic grammatical skills - you THINK immigration reform (your idea of it) is coming. What you clearly underestimate is the pride, courage, tenacity, sense of duty and fortitude the great citizens of this country have. If you don't want to follow our rules/laws/regulations, go back to where you came from. The immigrants who have done what's asked of them and are still waiting - THAT is wrong in every sense. They deserve assistance and opportunities - not illegals who have the audacity to demand benefits they've never earned or are entitled to.

This is NOT amnesty and will NEVER be. They will not pass amnesty. That will not happen in a million years.

What may happen is DREAM ACT and then some other type of REFORM for illegals. Let's face it, DREAM ACT will allow children to stay but their parents not. If DREAM ACT is enacted then they will have to work on another type of bill to allow parents to stay. Either that or children will be orphans. Do you see the logic?

But as far as amnesty goes. No way Jose! If another type of bill is passed after dream act...illegals be prepared to pay for all their unpaid tax years.

Before you Scream and show Ignorance and Hate at least read the Immigration Law regarding Undocumented Immigrants.

THE UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS ARE PAYING MORE TAXES THAN YOU THINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IMMIGRANTS AND TAXES:Q: “Is it true that illegal immigrants don’t pay taxes and drain our economy?”A: As Ben Franklin said, “Nothing is certain but death and taxes.” Like the rest of us, unauthorized immigrants pay taxes on their property and anything they buy. More than half of them have taxes taken out of their paychecks, but because our immigration system is dysfunctional, these taxes are paid under false Social Security numbers. We need a new regimen in which we know who is paying taxes and can ensure that no one is getting a free ride. The only way to do that is to pull unauthorized immigrants out of the shadows and get them on the right side of the law.Three state-level studies have found that unauthorized immigrants pay more in taxes than they use in benefits. In Iowa, unauthorized immigrants pay an estimated $40 to $62 million in state taxes, while they and their employers contribute an additional $50 million to $77.8 million in federal, Social Security, and Medicare taxes from which they will never benefit. In Oregon, unauthorized immigrants—who are not eligible for any state benefits—pay between $134 million and $187 million in taxes each year. Finally, in Texas, the State Comptroller found that, without unauthorized residents, the gross state product in 2005 would have been $17.7 billion less. ------------------------

The economics of immigration, Stephen C. Goss, the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration and someone who enjoys bipartisan support for his straightforwardness, said that by 2007, the Social Security trust fund had received a net benefit of somewhere between $120 billion and $240 billion from unauthorized immigrants.

That represented an astounding 5.4 percent to 10.7 percent of the trust fund's total assets of $2.24 trillion that year. The cumulative contribution is surely higher now. Unauthorized immigrants paid a net contribution of $12 billion in 2007 alone, Goss said.

Previous estimates circulating publicly and in Congress had placed the annual contributions at roughly half of Goss's 2007 figure and listed the cumulative benefit on the order of $50 billion.

The Social Security trust fund faces a solvency crisis that would be even more pressing were it not for these payments.

Adding to the Social Security irony is that the restrictionists are mostly OLDER AND RETIRED WHITES from longtime American families. The very people, in other words, who benefit most from the Social Security payments by unauthorized

@Juanita...How can students that came with their parent as babies get in line?? you tell me that..No nothing people on these sites. Read the damn bill...The DREAM ACT is for the students...granted if they added a "No Chain Migration" amendment i bet the republicans would vote for it with no problem...How the HELL is it "Amnesty" if you have to wait 6 years???..Stupid people make me sick..

No way any of these little amnesties or big amnesties are going to go through anymore. US is too poor and too crowded to take on the third world. Third worlders, go back home and make your own countries into great places!

Besides, be honest, third worlders: how many of you receive government assistance? And even if you don’t, isn't that just because you can't get on them due to lack of documentation-–if you ever did get an amnesty, you'd be on public assistance in a heartbeat, wouldn't you? And don’t you have lots of poor and/or sick relatives back home whom you are planning to import–so the good old US taxpayer, The Big Chump of Chumps, can foot the bill for their treatment?

Yeah, I thought so.

Many of you are very hardworking and upstanding now, but tell the truth: don’t your kids feel a little bit resentful of native born Americans who, often being more educated, make a lot more money? Don’t they mutter about how “the US stole our land”?

Problem is, this makes you incredibly unsuitable as immigrants. What kind of moron country would knowingly import people who start off by demanding goodies and by feeling grievances?

What you are asking us to do is obviously in your interest and your families’ interest, but any fool can see it’s obviously not in our interest.

Fortunately, I think the new congress has gotten the word on this. Boohoo the dream is dead. Go home and make your own countries into better places–what’s wrong with that plan?

Happy thanksgiving to all... Enjoy this day. Stop the hate, and war. spread love and peace. havent we learned from our mistakes??? Treat others how you expect to be treated. do the right thing from the bottom of our hearts. How are we expecting to have a better tomorrow in america in the world, if we cant stop our prejudism, think about your children, or future generations what are we going to leave behind? Hate, Prejudism, uneducated views/commets-miths. lets leave them a better tomorrow. that we can be sure they will be proud of. I am not proud of injustices our past generations did, in the world, (holocaust-slavery-segregation) Injustices that are shame on us. why? beause of the stupidity, prejusdism and lack of education of past generations. lets think about it on this day, is this what we want?? :( hope not.

I'm a U.S Citizen and i support the Dream Act because of a bigger picture. The next generation will have trouble competing in the global market. The highest rank in education we have is 12th place and i think that's in Reading, 25th in Math and 26th in Science. We need more tax payers for the debt, soldiers for the military etc...Wouldnt you want the cure for cancer, HIV/Aids to come from an American Citizen???....All you have to do is READ THE BILL..it's not AMNESTY because the whole process to become a Citizen is about 9 years maybe more, The students do not get in-state tuition, no financial aid only loans that have interest and their family members DO NOT qualify for the DREAM ACT. Even if the student tries to sponsor the family member the process in total will take over 18 years...The DREAM ACT just makes sense...

We have to look at the bottom line. Will it help the country or will it hurt us. OF COURSE IT WILL HELP. And like every other political decision ever made there will be both positive and negative effects to passing the bill. But taking everything into consideration, the positive highly outweigh the negative. The bill is geared specifically to contributors. Students that are going to school full time and working to pay for it out-of-pocket are "good" people. Chances are they're not out on the streets committing crimes. This bill is a solid way to help get our back on its feet. Everyone benefits. Its the right thing to do "morally" and "logically". A lot of people are saying no to the bill only because they're afraid of the competition for jobs. Well thats what America was founded on. The hardest workers get the jobs. Its just a little motivation to get off welfare and get back in school. There should be no reward for laziness anyway. We cannot exclude people because we're threatened by their power to do better than us. If they're that good, then let them help our country.

No rewards for law breakers; if your parents stand behind you and your fight for preferential treatment because they chose to break our laws then one cannot help but wonder what other values you were taught that run contrary to that of this nation’s founding principles.

My Grandparents came hear legally; their children should not be forced to suffer just because their parents were law abiding.

nO DREAM ACT. STAND IN LINE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. US SPENDS MORE THAN $30,000 A YEAR ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. REWARDING THEM IS GOING TO INCREASE THE PROBLEM FROM SOUTH OF BORDER. WHERE IS THE MONEY?WE ARE GOING BROKE AS A NATION.